Circuit-controlling apparatus.



P. E. COLLINS.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 11 1907. 1,101,254.

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P. B. COLLINS.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATIONFILED MAY 11, 1907.

1,101,254.. Patented June 23, 191;

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P. E. COLLINS.

0130mm CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1907.

Patented June 23, 1914.

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E. COLLINS, OF'BOS'ION' MASSACHUSETTS.

sGIRCUIT-CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern;

.Be it known that I, PAUL E. COLLINS, of Boston, county v of Sufiolk,and State of Massachusetts, have invented an -Improvement inCircuit-Controlling Apparatus, of whichth'e following description, in'connec tion' with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings i representing like parts.

This invention relates to a' circuit controllingdeviee especiallyadapted among other uses, to be employed for controlling the circuits ofincandescent lamps used to illu- Ininate signs, pictures and the like. r

Provision is made for lighting a plurality of sets of lamps in analternate manner, and

,for controlling the length of time each set of lamps is lighted. Forthis purpose I employ a circuit controller for the lamp circuits, whichis moved inone direction when an electro-magnet is energized, and ismoved in. the opposite direction when the electro magnet is deenergized.The electromagnet is governed by a circuit controller which 1s moved inone direction when the electromagnet is energized and is moved in theopposite direction by a weight which is controlled by shown in Fig. 1.Fig. 4, a detail to be referred to, Fig. 5, a detail in section, takenon the line 5-5 Fig. 4 and looking upward. Fig, 6, a detail of themagnet circuit controller and its operating cylinder, with the parts intheir lowered position, and Fig. 7, an-underside view of t e lampcircuit controller, looking up in Fig. 3. Fig. 8, a detail inperspective of the main switch.

Referring to Fig. 1, a represents one set I of incandescent lamps and ba second set,

which may be used to illuminate the opposite sides of a sign or otherdevlce (not shown). The lamps a, b are designed to be alternatelylighted, that is, when the lamps a are lighted, the lamps b are notlighted,

-' and vice versa. The lamps a, b are conas hereinshown terminal plates0,01, sepatrolled by a circuit controller comprising Specification ofLetters Patent. Applicationfiled m 11, 1907. Serial 1%. 373,155.

Patented June 23, 1914.

rated by insulation 6 and provided with metal strips forming channels orpathways for the passage of the movable member f of the circuitcontroller. In the present instance, the terminal plate 0 has projectingfrom it metal pieces h, i, which form a path or way j, and the terminalplate d has projecting from it metal pieces 70, m, forming a path or wayn. The metal pieces h, a may be secured at one end and left free at theopposite end, and may and preferably Willhave secured to them springpieces or brushes 0, p, which extend across the path Ways n and normallyengage the metal pieces i, k. The movable member f, of the lamp circuitcontroller is shown as a finger attached to the lower end of. a springarm 8, fastened to a metal piece 10 secured to but insulated from alever/12, which is'rnounted on a pivot stud 13 extended from a suitableback plate" or support 14. The lever 12 is turned on its pivot in onedirection to raise the movable member 7* of the circuit con-.

troller, by an electromagnet 15, hereinshown as asolenoid, whose core 16is connected by a link 17 to the lever 12, and said lever is moved inthe opposite direction to lower the movable member of the circuitcontroller by a weight 18, which is represented as secured to' a rod 19extended from said lever on the.

The movement of the lever 12 by thesolenoid may be limited by a backstop, shown as a bent rod or arm 109 attached to the plate 14.

Provision is made for energizing and deenergizing the solenoid, and forthis purpose, I have provided a circuit controller for said solenoid.The. solenoid circuit controller may" be made as herein shown andcomprises a metal arm 20 provided at its end with a finger 21 whichcooperates with a terminal plate 22, shown separately in-Figs. 4, 5 and6, and which is provided with a' spring piece 23 and with two rigidpieces 24, 25 forming a path or way 26 through which the finger 21vpasses on its downward movement and onto a block of insulation 27secured to the plate 22, the said block having a wall' 12, and in theopposite direction by gravity, and its movement by gravity is regulatedby means of a pneumatic device, comprising as hereinshown, anair-containing cylinder 30, provided with a piston or plunger 31 havinga hollow stem 32 provided at or near its lower end with an air outlet33. The cylinder 30 has attached to its upper end a guide rod 35, whichmoves in a guide block 36 attached to a stationary part or piece 37.

Provision is made for-lifting the cylinder by the lever 12, and forreleasing said cylinder when it has been lifted a ,predetermineddistance. This may be accomplished as hereinshown by a latch 40depending from the lever 12 and adapted to be engaged by a pawl 41pivoted to the cylinder at 42 and having an arm 43, which is adapted toengage a stationary device or arm 44,.secured in the present instance tothe' guide block 36. The lever arm 43 is actedupon by a spring 46 tonormally throw the pawl 41 into position to be engaged by the latch 40,(see Fig. 1).

. The cylinder 30 mayhave secured to it-a weight 47 which also serves asa guide for the cylinder and moves on a stationary guide rod 49 attachedto the guide block and to a stationary block 51. The piston rod 32 isstationary and for this purpose engages a cross piece 50 attached to thestationary block 51. The cylinder 30 may have at-- tached to it a stoparm 52, which engages the cross piece 50 and limits the downwardmovement of the cylinder.

The air cylinder may be open at its lower end and the piston 31 may beof a construction, similar to a bicycle pump, to permit air through thehollow piston rod and the out-'- let port 33, which latter can be madeof such size as to regulate the time it takes the air to escape andconsequently the cylinder 30 to descend, thereby regulating the time ittakes the movable member 20 of the circuit controller for the magnet totravel downward. V

The movable member 20 of the magnet circuit controller is connected incircuit with the electromagnet or solenoid 15 as is also the terminal22, and said movable member is preferably insulated from the aircylinder, and for this latter purpose, the member'20 is secured to anarm 55, which is insulated from the cylinder 30 by an insulator 56.

The movable member s of the light circuit controller is also preferablyinsulated from the lever 12 by the insulation 58 and by a secondinsulator 59 mounted on the pivot 13 (see Fig. 2) and having mounted onit a metal sleeve 60 which is connected by wire 68 is connected by wire70 to the binding' post or terminal 63, which is connected tothememberi20 of the magnet circuit controller by wire 71. The terminalplate22 is connected by wire 72 to a fuse 73 of ordinary construction,and the latter by wire 74 to one end of the coil of the solenoid, theother end vof which is connected by wire 75 to the fuse 76, which isconnected by wire 77 to the terminal 69. The terminal plates 0, d forthe lamp circuit controller have connected to them the wires 80, 81,which include the two sets of lamps a, b, and the common return wire 82for the lamp circuits is connected with the terminal 69. v

The operation of the apparatus may be briefly described as follows :Asrepresented in Fig. 1, both sets of lamps are out as the main switch isopened; the cylinder 30 is in its lowered position and clutched to thelever 12, which is turned into the position shown, by the weight 18; thecontact finger f engages the spring p, and the contact finger 21 engagesthe spring 23. If the line switch is now closed, the circuit of thesolenoid 15 is closed, as is also the circuit of the set 5 of lamps. Thesolenoid circuit may be traced as follows :from the positive line wire64 by switch blade '66 to terminal 68, thence by wire 70 to binding post63, wire 71, contact arm 20, finger 21, spring 23, terminal 22, wire 72,fuse 73, wire 74,

fuse 7 6, wire 77, negative terminal 69, switch blade 67 to negativewire 65. The circuit of the lamps b may be traced as follows from thepositive terminal 68 to the binding post 63 as above, thence by brush62, sleeve 60, wire 61, terminal block 10, contact arm 8, finger f,terminal d, wire 81,

lamps b and wire 82 to negative terminal 69. v

The solenoid attracts its core 16 and turns the lever 12 from theposition shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2. The lever 12 on whatmay be termed its upward movement, lifts the cylinder 30, the contactarm 20, and the contact arm 8. At or about the time the through thesolenoid 15, thence by wire 75, a

lever 12 has reached the end of its upward movement, the finger f on thecontact arm .9

passes from engagement with the terminal 0? across the insulation 0 intoengagement with the terminal 0, thereby opening the circuit of the lampsb and establishing the circuit of the lamps a. I

At or about the same time, the contact finger 21 has been brought beyondthe end of the piece 24: and passes across the plate 22 into engagementwith the metal strip 25 and into position to be moved down in the path26 and the clutch; lever 41 is at this time disengaged from the latch 40by the arm 43 of said lever engaging the stationary arm 44. The cylinder30 is thus re leased, and begins to descend, being governed by the sizeof the outlet port 33. in the piston rod, which port is made of suchsize as to'cause a given length of time to be consumed in the descent ofthe cylinder, thereby permitting the circuit of the lamps, a to remainclosed and the lamps lighted a given or predetermined length of time, oruntil the contactarm s 'is' moved down through .the path j and beyondthe: metal piece 11,

whereupon the contact arm 8 springs across the insulation e and intoengagement with the spring p as represented in Fig.1,

The downward movement of thecontact arm .5 is efiected by the downwardmovement of the lever 12 under the influence of the weight 18 and thismovement of the lever 12 takes place when the circuit of the magnet 15is opened, which occurs when the contact arm 20 is carried by thedescending cylinder 30-out .of engagement with the terminal piece 22 andinto engagement with the insulation 27, 28. The magnet 15 remainsdeenergized while the finger 21 of the contact arm 20 remains inengagement with the insulating wall 28, thereby allowing the cylinder 30to complete its downward movement, and at or about the time the cylinder30 has completed its downward movement, the finger 21 on the contact arm20 passes out of engagement with the insulating wall 28 and snaps intoengagement with the spring 23 on the terminal p1ece 22, (see Fig. 6)thereby again closing the circuit of the magnet 15. The contact arm 8remains in engagement with the spring p on the terminal (Z and the lampsb remaln lighted until the magnet 15 is energized and the contact arm 8is again brought into engagement with the terminal a as shown in Fig. 2.It will thus be seen, that the set of lamps are alternately lighted, andremain lighted a given or predetermined length of time, which iscontrolled by the pneumatic governor or cylinder.

To reduce vibration of the free ends of the springs m, it, and therebyavoid arcing between the contact finger f and the said springs, the freeends of said springs have attached to them one end of coiled springs 90,91, thegother ends of which bear on the terminal pistes d, c, and serveas steadying devices for" the springs m, h. In the construction of thecircuit controller for the lamps a, b, the contact finger 75 on itsupward movement slides along the spring 7) unti'lit reaches the plateis, along which 1t slides until it reaches the end of said plate,

spring 0. On the downward movement of the finger f, it slides along thespring 0 until it reaches the plate 2', along whlch it slides to theend'of said plate, from which it slips into contact with the spring p.

Claims:

1. In a device of the character described, in combination, a pluralityof sets of electric lam s," circuits in which-said lamps are inclu ed, acircuit controller for said lamp circuits comprising'circuit terminalsand a movable member cooperating therewith, a lever to which saidmovable member is connected to move therewith, a solenoid to move saidlever in one direction, means to moye said lever in the oppositedirection, a circuit controller for said solenoid comprising a terminaland a movable member, a pneumatic device to regulate the movement of themovable member of the solenoid circuit controller andcomprising astationary pis-' ton and a movable cylinder to which the movable memberof said solenoid circuit controller is connected to move therewith, aclutch to couple the said cylinder to said lever, and means to disengagesaid .clutch and release said cylinder from said lever andpermit it tomove independently of said lever, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, in combination, a circuitcontroller, a lever to which said circuit controller is connected, anelectromagnet to move said lever, aseparate circuit controller for saidelectroma net, a movable cylinder to which the circuit controller forsaid electromagnet is connected to move therewith, a clutch to couplesaid cylinder to said lever to efi'ect movement of said cylinder and themagnet circuit controller in one direction, and means to disengage saidclutch from said lever and permit it to move independently of saidlever, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character described, in combination, an electriccircuit, a circuit controller therefor, mechanism to mechanically movesaid circuit controller, an electromagnet governing the operation ofsaid mechanism, a switch to open and close the circuit of saidelectromagnet, means to conple the said magnet circuit controller withsaid mechanism to eiiect movement of the said switch in one direction bysaid mechanism, means to release said switch fromsaid mechanism andpermit the said magnet circuit controller to move independently of saidmechanism, and means to regulate the movement of said switch whenreleased from said mechanism, substantially as described.

4. In a device of the character described, in combination, 'an electriccircuit, a circuit controller therefor, mechanism to mechanically movesaid circuit controller, an electromagnet governing the operation ofsaid mechanism, a switch to open and close the circuit of saidelectromagnet, means to conple the said switch with said mechanism toeffect movement of the said switch in one 5 direction by said mechanism,means to release said switch from said mechanism, a movable cylinder towhich said switch is connected to move therewith, a stationary piston insaid cylinder, and means to reguate the escapeof fluid from saidcylinder when the latter is moved in one direction,

'circuit of said electromagnet, means to constem communicating with thesald cylinder and having a fluid outlet, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

" PAUL E. COLLINS.

Witnesses:

JAS. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY.

